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Delphi Update

This morning I was pleased to update the Sudbury business forum about recent progress in relation to the Delphi site.

I set up the South Suffolk Taskforce in the wake of the news that Delphi would be closing its plant in Sudbury. All the members of the taskforce agree that the best future for the plant is continued industrial use preserving as many of those jobs as possible, conscious as we are that this is a very local workforce drawn primarily from Sudbury and South Suffolk, with an excellent skill set that we hope would be attractive to potential buyers. We have therefore engaged with the business department in Whitehall to help us go through their networks to bring forward potential interest.

I can confirm that these efforts have been productive and have resulted in credible potential buyers coming forward to express interest in the purchase of the site on an industrial basis, and that potentially buyers we have engaged with see the principal asset of the business as its workforce.

I cannot say anymore on the specifics of that interest because negotiations are ongoing, and therefore subject to commercial confidentiality and I would ask you to respect Delphi’s right not to provide any further detail than I have given you. But speaking as Chairman of the Taskforce, I am conscious that in our last evidence session on 18th May the Union and workers present stressed that within months we would reach a tipping point with the rate of departure of key staff from the site likely to accelerate. As time has moved on since then I therefore wanted to update you to send a message to Delphi staff that whilst nobody can provide guarantees of a particular conclusion at this stage, we are hopeful of a successful outcome that supports local and good quality employment on the plant as far possible.